TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1683> <title> Equatorial Guinea--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Southern Africa Equatorial Guinea </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> The first inhabitants of the region that is now Equatorial Guinea are believed to have been Pygmies, of whom only isolated pockets remain in northern Rio Muni. Bantu migrations between the 17th and 19th centuries brought the coastal tribes and later the Fang. Elements of the latter may have generated the Bubi, who emigrated to Bioko from Cameroon and Rio Muni in several waves and succeeded former neolithic populations. The Annobon population, native to Angola, was introduced into Bioko by the Portuguese via Sao Tome. The Portuguese explorer, Fernanda Po, seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1471. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogooue Rivers were ceded to Spain. From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a base on the island to combat the slave trade. Conflicting claims to the mainland were settled in 1900 by the Treaty of Paris, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively. Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in Equatorial Guinea during the first half of this century; however, through a patronal system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cacao plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers. At independence in 1968, largely as a result of this system, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. The Spanish also helped Equatorial Guinea achieve one of the continent's highest literacy rates and developed a good network of health care facilities. In 1959, the Spanish territory of the Gulf of Guinea was established with status similar to the provinces of metropolitan Spain. As the Spanish Equatorial region, it was ruled by a governor general exercising military and civilian powers. The first local elections were held in 1959, and the first Equatoguinean representatives were seated in the Spanish Parliament. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, limited autonomy was authorized under a joint legislative body for the territory's two provinces. The name of the country was changed to Equatorial Guinea. Although Spain's Commissioner General had extensive powers, the Equatorial Guinean General Assembly had considerable initiative in formulating laws and regulations. In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the United Nations, Spain announced that it would grant independence to Equatorial Guinea. A constitutional convention produced an electoral law and draft constitution. In the presence of a U.N. observer team, a referendum was held on August 11, 1968, and 63% of the electorate voted in favor of the constitution, which provided for a government with a general assembly and presidentially appointed judges in the Supreme Court. In September 1968, Francisco Macias Nguema was elected first president of Equatorial Guinea, and independence was granted in October. In July 1970, Macias created a single-party state, and by May 1971, key portions of the constitution were abrogated. In 1972, the president assumed complete control of the government and the title of President-for-Life. The Macias regime was characterized by abandonment of all government functions except internal security, which was accomplished by terror; this led to the death or exile of up to one-third of the country's population. Due to pilferage, ignorance, and neglect, the country's infrastructure--electrical, water, road, transportation, and health--fell into ruin. Religion was repressed, and education ceased. The private and public sectors of the economy were devastated. Nigerian contract laborers on Bioko, who left en masse in early 1976, have not returned. The economy collapsed, and skilled citizens and foreigners left. In August 1979, Lt. Col. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (effective December 1987 addressed only by his African name, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo) led a successful coup d'etat; Macias was executed after a trial attended by international observers. Current Political Conditions Only after local autonomy was granted in 1963 was there much political party activity in Equatorial Guinea. Ethnically based political parties on Rio Muni favored independence of the two provinces as a single political entity and won out over the Bubi and Fernandino parties on Bioko Island, who preferred separation from Rio Muni or a loose federation. Offshoots of these parties exist in exile today. Their leaders have yet to reconcile themselves to the new government. However, they have strength only among the exile community (Spain, Cameroon, and Gabon) and have had little influence or following in Equatorial Guinea. In August 1979, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo led a coup d'etat and pledged to restore human rights, resume economic development of the country, and reestablish good relations with traditionally friendly nations. A constitution was approved in 1983, and President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo began a 7-year term of office which ends in 1989. The Democratic Party for Equatorial guinea, formed in 1987, is the nation's sole legal political party. Once the chaotic situation in the country was brought under control and public administration reestablished, politics became the province of Cabinet ministers, presidential advisers, and mid-level government officials, the latter functioning in an advisory capacity to the president. With local and parliamentary elections in 1981 and 1982, normal political life is gradually returning to the country. Since 1979, the president has been the country's dominant political force. So far, he has been constrained only by a need to maintain a consensus among his advisers and political supporters--most, but not all, of whom are drawn from the majority Fang tribe. Many factors--including discontent among military personnel displaced by civilian, intratribal and ethnic rivalries, and personal ambitions among those who regarded themselves as an alternative leadership for the country--led to two abortive coups in 1981 and 1983. Neither coup attempt had any popular or appreciable military support. The government, which is credited with restoring greater personal freedom--reopening the schools and expanding primary education, improving public utilities and roads, as well as attracting considerable foreign aid--is regarded favorably by the populace. However, it has been criticized for not reducing petty corruption, halting inflation, eliminating the black market, or effectively sharing power with a more nationally representative group of Fang, Playero, and Bubi leaders. The Parliament is, however, representative of the nation as a whole and eventually may remedy this politically unbalanced situation if it develops along the lines set out for it by the constitution and receives a real share of power. Although Equatorial Guinea lacks a well-established democratic tradition comparable to the developed democracies of the West, it has progressed toward developing a participatory political system out of the anarchic, chaotic, and repressive conditions of the Macias years. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, March 1989. </body> </article> </text>